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Merlin-D032
'[[MSV Ambrose's Refuge|MSV ''Ambrose's Refuge]] It wasn't really Merlin-D032's intention to descend down the path of an agent of chaos, however, it seems destiny and outside influences have played a major part in influencing the direction his life has taken. Sudden changes started out with his desertion from the United Nations Space Command and the UNSC Armed Forces in 2558. In late 2558, he already joined up with the morally-grey Baal Defense Solutions, in particular, their Frontier Division, led by Commander Rosetta "Pigtails" Calabrese. Merlin stayed with the private military corporation for about a year and played the role as a commando in the corporation's supersoldier program, Project APOLLYON. Following the death of Merlin's best friend, Andra-D054, Merlin was reassigned to the security detail of a key BDS starship engineer, one Richard Foster. Foster was the Senior Project Manager for many of BDS's warship exports as a key player in the BDS subsidiary, Baal Naval Works. Upon joining the engineer's security detail, Merlin was assigned to one of Foster's personal warships, the '''SS ''Unwanted Savior. This vessel, a [[Gladius-class heavy corvette|''Cutlass-class Heavy Corvette]], based on the Gladius-class Corvette. Finally fed up with the actions he had taken in the name of the private military company, Merlin turned traitor once again and destroyed indiscriminately on his way out of the organization. At the push of his AI partner, Althea, Merlin killed Richard Foster. Destroyed a considerable amount of BDS property and assets, and stole the SS Unwanted Savior from its dock. He successfully escaped pursuing BDS forces in frontier space and took the time to assess what he had left now that he was alone, on the run, once again. He had a ship now, one that belonged to him. This vessel renamed the MSV Ambrose's Refuge would become Merlin's new home from onward. In the wake of the Created Crisis that was sweeping the galaxy, Merlin started to hunt Forerunner artifacts and lost worlds belonging to an ancient interstellar civilization at the suggestion of Althea. Based on Althea's acquisition of notes developed from UNSC, Baal Defense Solutions, and data salvaged from operations against the Glass Raiders, Merlin was guided into hunting for a place described as . Althea described a world where science and magic seemed to become one in the same and the promise that, together, the AI and Spartan could bring back Andra-D054 from the dead. Desperate to have his friend back by his side, Merlin became obsessed with the promise and chased after this lost world. Coupled with nightmares and strange dreams that featured Andra and perversions of some of Merlin's darkest fears, Merlin never considered the possibility that he was being played like a puppet on a string. After everything was said and done, Merlin became cursed with having his old friend trapped within his mind. He also now had a ship without an AI to fly it and trapped in orbit of Charrum Hakkor. It was only desperation and quick thinking that Merlin managed to save and find help in unlikely allies, Tyler-A319 and GAUNTLET Team, Spartans belonging to . For both Merlin and the members of GAUNTLET Team, Ambrose's Refuge truly became a temporary home as they escaped the cursed world that they first came seeking ancient treasures to fulfill their personal goals and only left embattled and empty-handed. While the Refuge was Merlin's ship, with the other Spartans aboard, he was far from in command. Tyler-A319 was in charge, and for a time, the pilot was Tyler's AI, Ikora. Even with the new residents, this ship was Merlin's - it would become a refuge against the storm raging across the galaxy as the Created took control of everything. 'Character Assessment' 'Physical Appearance' Merlin has always been an average-stature individual compared to other Delta Company graduates. He comes nowhere near the size of most MJOLNIR-clad Spartans and stands only a few inches above an average human male. While in his powered armor, Merlin barely reaches seven feet. Merlin's body is also clearly muscular and decently defined from augmentations - even for someone of Merlin's weight class, he's exceptionally light for a soldier. A trait he shares with most Spartans in fact. Merlin is descriptively lengthy and thin. He doesn't have pronounced strength but he's a quick fighter backed by decent strength for a Spartan. His augmentations only made him capable of functioning in Spartan armor - it did little to augment his outward appearance besides accelerating and stagnating his puberty. While out of armor, Merlin has an appearance akin to a civilian. He's small enough and simple-looking enough that he can get away with disappearing into a crowd, his appearance doesn't even jump out as a military. His upkeep is very relaxed compared to the he was taught to maintain as part of Delta Company. He prefers dressing in loose tee shirts, jeans, and cargo pants. He doesn't like dressing in formal wear, including his . Merlin's hair always takes the form of a bedhead. His facial hair tends to drift with his preferences - many times while on the run, he's attempted to grow a beard only to decide against it after only seeing heavy stubble. He instead buys fake-beards to cover his face. Merlin is somewhat of a neat freak and likes to keep his things manageable, his appearance doesn't have to be neat or professional, however, it cannot become too-messy for too long or it starts bothering him, and on occasion, Andra. Merlin does not sport any . No prominent scarring on his body due to superb medical treatment following major combat missions. Physically, Merlin doesn't even display sunspots or freckles. The only real defining feature is his sometimes palish skin from wearing his armor for too long, however, it rarely overstays its welcome. Merlin does have some minor scars on his body, including an abdominal round he took during an operation in Rio de Janerio in . Merlin wears his armor less than most Spartans and lacks their defining ghostly-white complexion. Merlin could be described as a regular male youth even though his body and facial features make him look older and yet younger at the same time, creating a sort of "Spartan-baby face paradox" as its something that most Spartans experience after being augmented where their appearance achieves a sort of . 'Personality Assessment' Merlin-D032 spent most of his youth without his parents since they were off fighting in the Great War. He lost them as a toddler and because of that underdevelopment, his personality strayed from, or rather skipped, . Merlin has been described as unusually mature for his age - he has a tendency to think more and acts with a problem-solving mentality, however, this does not make him a logical thinker. More often than not, his decisions can have unforeseen consequences, some comedic and others catastrophic - usually depends on the situation itself. During his recruitment into Delta Company, Dr. Reyna Zhou-Romero described Merlin as "too calm" but also "too serious." This so-called maturity has gifted Merlin with a highly perceptive mind and a tendency to analyze, maybe too much at times. Merlin was a clearly defined introvert before becoming a Spartan. Training has prompted a positive growth in his personality, drifted toward extroversion, as he has grown in age and experience. Merlin's quietness can best be tied to his past insecurities about his own judgment. In time, the circumstances of constantly escaping or beating certain death have at least given Merlin a reason to trust his own instincts - especially in battle. Merlin's drive to seek out purpose, a characteristic he shares with most of Team Boson, has been marked by analysts at ONI as a primary factor for why the Spartans of Team Boson deserted their post. Merlin is also driven by his dedication to his allies and friends, he seeks to protect and stand by them and is relatively approachable to everyone. He doesn't have many qualms with aliens, even if his parents' deaths were a motivating factor for why he joined the Spartans. Merlin is afraid of being alone or abandoned, something he's felt considerably three times in his life: his parents' deaths, when Team Boson fragmented, and when Andra was killed. Merlin tries to avoid thinking about the possibility of being alone, in hopes that he never has to face that fear. After the Andra-D054 personality fragment was planted into Merlin's mind by his AI, Althea, Merlin started to see his personality warp and merge with Andra's. A side effect of having Forerunner technology, a digital essence be grafted onto his mind, Merlin's personality started to adopt bits and pieces of Andra's personality just as Andra started to adopt Merlin-D032's. In many ways, the Spartan pair, who through their childhoods had developed an inseparable relationship had also become physically inseparable. The Andra Fragment, as it was known to those who knew that the personality fragment operation had taken place, had the effect of bringing two separate identities together. Merlin began to display shyer aspects to his personality and also proved quicker to anger. Merlin developed a greater pension for sharpshooting, more so than he ever had in the past, even picking up a sniper rifle more than once which was typically out of character for the Spartan. Some of his personal behaviors changed like mannerisms, hobbies, quirks, and favorite items like food or materialistic devices. In many ways, both Merlin and Andra became more like the other and vice versa. 'The ''"Andra" Fragment' While visiting the capital world of , Merlin and his AI partner Althea were introduced to Forerunner research into the or rather sentient individuals in a simulated form. The by the was so advanced, hypothetically, the technology could allow the dead to be reborn again in biological or mechanical form through unknown means only referred to as " ." Suddenly driven to try and bring Andra-D054 back from the dead, Merlin convinced his AI partner to help him in his endeavor. Hesitant but equally curious, Althea agreed to help and put Merlin into a medically-induced coma so that she could inspect every facet of Merlin's augmentations so that she might be able to recreate for the reborn Andra. Althea quickly ran into a brick wall, however, not understanding the difficult intricacies of neural physics and the Forerunners' technology, Althea was . The process involved a complex mix of neural physics, brain mutations, and intentionally-induced dissociative identity disorder to bring the formerly deceased Spartan to life. Merlin was comatose for a while - likely several days in fact. When he awoke, his mind was flooded with new memories that were not his and a sudden feeling of separation from his own body. Merlin's mind was much louder and noisier than normal. It became clear after some time that there was a second presence in Merlin's brain, a reborn Andra - equipped with memories from Althea but retaining the personality of the girl once deceased. While the reunion was relatively shocking and happy, it was not what Merlin had expected. Merlin and Andra's relationship within Merlin's mind was a product of advanced neural physics, grafting Andra's conscience next to Merlin's - a process similar to dual booting operating machines on a computer. In practice, Merlin and Andra were separate entities in the same brain, operating in tandem like that of a pilot and co-pilot in a fighter aircraft. Andra and Merlin shared the same thoughts and same emotions. Some of Andra's own surface talents translated into Merlin including her sharpshooter skills. Merlin's mindscape became more solid with Andra's presence, likely caused by the brain modifications and that allowed themselves to project into an . Along with this new addition, the modification allowed Andra to take control of Merlin's body - even going as far as to allow her to speak using Merlin's voice. For Merlin's acquaintances, this came off as jarring for those who were aware of Merlin's new condition like GAUNTLET Team who arrived on Charum Hakkor with Merlin. For Merlin and Andra, their relationship with Althea shifted greatly due to the new development. To create Andra, Althea had to clone and rewrite some of her own programs to create Andra once again. This had a dramatic effect on her personality and made her somewhat more aggressive and individualistic than she had in the past. As described by Andra, Merlin, and Althea during interactions - Merlin's mind was now a lot more crowded with three identities running amuck. Ultimately, while Althea was doing Merlin and Andra a service, she was also performing this action to complete her own agenda as a new agent of the Created. A perversion of goals belonging to Merlin and Andra, Althea intended to claim the duo's loyalty to the Created as well as experiment with the ancient technology that she had discovered research on while skimming through the wealth of information she had gained from the UNSC, BDS, and the Glass Raiders over the course of a year. 'Relationships' 'Andra-D054 Andra-D054 and Merlin-D032 first came into contact with one another when they arrived on the human colony world of Argus V. However, they did not speak to one another for at least several days, and when they did, it turned out disastrous for both. Both children acted standoffish toward their peers, though, for very different reasons. Merlin chose to approach Andra of all children out of curiosity and probably a false sense of kinship with the girl who kept to herself. Andra was still reeling from the death of her parents and her father's abuse before turning a gun on himself; when Merlin approached, it only pushed those emotions to a boiling point. Andra struck out first, leading to an altercation between the two Spartan recruits that ended in Merlin's victory. The two reconciled their differences and found similarities between their lives, eventually culminating in a close friendship. Andra relied heavily on Merlin emotionally and the two were rarely seen apart from one another. Andra's reliance on Merlin dunked their combat scores early in training, however, it helped break her out of her shell. By the time training ended, Andra was one of the most accomplished sharpshooters to graduate from Delta Company. Andra and Merlin were assigned to the same Spartan team and worked together as a Hunter-Killer team duo, Merlin serving as the pair's spotter and Andra as the pair's sniper. And when Team Boson fragmented due to the selfish actions of Daniele-D003, Merlin and Andra stuck together and went their own way as the rest of the team left in pursuit of their own goals. Their friendship would continue all the way up to Andra's death by Serge-D167's hand. In life, they were easily each other's best friend. Merlin's relationship with Andra is one based on mutual trust and commitment to each other's well being. Not quite platonic in nature, their friendship dances between romantic and a simple friendship quite excessively due to a lack of understanding of their own feelings and a lack of social education on the matter. They were practically inseparable and spent most of their youth in each other's presence. The two would often display a flirtatious friendship while also displaying a more sibling-like attitude toward one another. Cursing, bickering, and insults were very common between the two Spartans, even with their deep friendship. Her death at the hands of Sergei-D167 broke Merlin's composure and beset him with grief. For a time after her death, Merlin displayed an almost uncaring and detached attitude toward everyone around him with brief exception toward his AI partner born from Andra's brain, Althea. Merlin's relationship with Andra remained relatively consistent with exception to much more aggression and coordination between the two after Andra was brought back from the abyss, both as herself and before as a split personality in Merlin's own mind. 'Althea' 'Trivia' *Merlin-D032 was 's first conceptual Spartan, and, his first written character on Halo Fanon based on article-creation. While not officially the first character conceived for Halo Fanon or even Delta Company, Merlin is Distant Tide's personal Spartan, acting as his in-universe projection and protagonist. *Merlin-D032's full name, Merlin Boyd, Spartan Delta-032, is an indirect reference to the ancient Forerunner AI, , who betrayed the during the . Merlin's Spartan number and his birth name conform to the say identifying acronym '''032.M.B'. This reference was unintentional on Distant Tide's part at the time, however, has since been adopted as an inside joke. *Distant Tide used a combination of images and anime drawings to convey Merlin's likeness. While this has been described as "can be a bit jarring on the same page" Comments made by admins and on Merlin-D032's nomination for Good Article status. Circa. 2017., Tide finds that the images fill a necessary role between Merlin's very apparent youth and the necessity for interpretation in the case of this Spartan. The same behavior can be found in most of Distant Tide's character articles under the same situation. 'Appearances' *''Delta's Path'' *''Halo: Corporeal Delta'' *''Halo: Undesirables'' *''CBrando's RP Session #1'' 'Development Notes' Category:SPARTAN Category:Delta Company Category:SPARTAN-IIIs Category:ZOD Characters Category:Males